Another life change for me this week -- after holding out for as long as possible, I finally purchased a cell phone...a basic, non-blingy $20 pay-as-you-go cheapie from the local Cheap Crap of Dubious Origin store. Considering that I'm spending over three hours on the road every day, and monopolizing my land line with the computer when I'm home, it seemed like the right thing to do.
But I have no love for the thing. Oh, I was geeky enough to program a Bach partita ringtone, but I'm not particularly curious about any of the features other than the actual ability to call people on it, or to receive calls with it,under duress. To steal a phrase from theologian Marva Dawn, who critiques our technophilic culture quite harshly, I feel fettered by my new cell phone. And I do not want to turn into one of those people who are surgically attached to their phones, engaged in inane "Whassup?" conversations everywhere. (I haven't yet seen or heard anyone using a phone in a public bathroom, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.)
But...it can't be helped. I have a cell phone now. Whoo-hoo for me. At least it's really, really little.
6 comments:
I share your distaste for the loathsome things. But I have a solution. Unless there is an emergency afoot -- such as someone in the hospital -- I do not give out my cell number. I have it for MY convenience, not anyone else's. I'd rather use my cell to check my home answering machine than to have someone call my cell. It is always turned off.
I am very selective about to whom I give my number: spouse, kids, parents, a few key people from my congregation, anyone I am trying to meet up with (for carpooling, for example), that's about it. The kids have one ringtone, spouse has the other. Otherwise I don't answer it if I am driving/in a meeting.
That's the only way I could reconcile having one.
I have heard people using the cell phone in a public bathroom--twice (airports). It did not add to my experience.
I hear people using cell phones in the public bathroom on a regular basis at work! Not, just in the room.....i'm talking pants down...doing their thang....I DON'T GET THAT!
It's time for me to trade in mine for a free replacement....I DO NOT want a stinkin' camera in it. Such a lame thing.
$20 pay-as-you-go is just like having an extra roll of dimes for pay phones.....only...really...do you see pay phones anymore?
That's the whole thing...you can't depend on pay phones anymore, because about two-thirds of the ones still in existence are out of order.
In trying to justify this purchase I thought about the money I spend on phone cards (what I use to call home when I'm at my satellite office, in long-distance land, or when I'm traveling)...a cell still costs more, but not that much more all things considered, especially now that you can buy the actual phone for twenty bucks. The camera thing was never even a consideration for me; anyway, I have a small-but-good digital camera that fits in my purse, that I use for work, so if inspiration should strike to take a picture of something somewhere away from home I usually have access to that.
Oh, it's not so bad, LC.
As folks here have said - limit the number of people you give your number to. Then it doesn't ring all that much.
It's created for me some peace of mind - I have a long drive to work each day. I feel better knowing it's there.
I, too, have a nice, cheerful Bach ringtone - a two part invention (but because it hardly ever rings, it still gives me a start to hear it!)
The camera has come in handy twice, too! (Mine even takes video footage!)
Technology CAN be a blessing!
-C
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